This report describes general characteristics of diseases classified as acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Somatic mutations in over a dozen genes have been found in cases of AML (see MIM:601626); see the human disease model report 'myeloproliferative disorders, JAK2-related' (FBhh0000189). Other causes of AML include fusion genes generated by chromosomal translocations; several such translocation has been been used in fly models of this disease (see FBhh0000169, RUNX1-RUNX1T1 fusion; FBhh0000924, NUP98-HOXA9 fusion; and FBhh0000925, MLL-AF fusions).
[updated Nov. 2018 by FlyBase; FBrf0222196]
[LEUKEMIA, ACUTE MYELOID; AML](https://omim.org/entry/601626)
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is one of the most common types of leukemia among adults; it is uncommon under age 40. (Most childhood leukemias are acute lymphocytic leukemia, ALL). AML affects myeloid cells, resulting in an abundance of abnormal immature cells within the blood-cell-producing bone marrow; normal hematopoietic processes become increasingly compromised. Persons with AML are more likely to have infections and have an increased risk of bleeding as the numbers of healthy blood cells decrease. [from MedlinePlus; https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000542.htm ]
Somatic mutations in over a dozen genes have been found in cases of AML; other causes of AML include fusion genes generated by chromosomal translocations. [from MIM:601626; 2016.02.01]
AML is characterized by infiltration of the bone marrow, blood, and other tissues by proliferative, clonal, abnormally differentiated, and occasionally poorly differentiated cells of the hematopoietic system. [Dohner et al., 2015; pubmed:26376137]
